Vigilante Justice
by PeridotKitty
Summary: The war is over, but the hate still lingers. Don't own ATLA nor the characters. Please R&R, first story. Rated M for safety.
1. I Prologue

This is my first story ever.

So please be kind, as far as I know I'm more of an artist than a writer....but you never know :D

**Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender is owned by Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom. All the copyrights belong to them. Only the ideas contained within this story are property of the author.**

**Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko also get the credit as they created the Avatar world *bows down***

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**Prologue**

No one could predict what would happen after the war had ended and after Ozai's rule was through.

Everyone knew for certain that Zuko would rule as fire lord. But what they didn't know was that the stench of death would linger. Families of loved ones lost could not overcome their grief and the supporters of the war could not overcome themselves.

Vigilante groups supporting Ozai seemed to pop up all over the world where minds had been effected by his tyranny, where hands had been influenced by his violence.

The idea of a superior element was still at large, only this time, the leaders of the nations were not at the wheel.

* * *

**Ice Dodging**

Sokka sat back against the side of the boat as it rocked tenderly. The young men at the mast and the rudder shouting backwards and forwards to each other, each of them barking a different order that the other wanted to partake.

But the warrior didn't care. Over the past weeks he had grown more and more relaxed with taking the young males of the tribe ice dodging. He still remembered his first trip...he jumped at every white shape that appeared on the water. But now he had learned to let them do it. Every now and then he would look up to make everything was in check, but apart from that, it was a very cushy job.

His father had appointed him this duty as of lately to try and train him early in what was required of the chief. Mostly it was going along with hunting parties ensuring that the men were being trained adequately in combat...and of course ice dodging.

But today was a bit different. His fellow sea-goers (as he liked to call them) suggested going a bit further out to see rather than staying close to shore like they usually did. Their reason being that since the number of waterbenders in the southern water tribe had increased, the size and quantity of glaciers had decreased. This was mostly the cause of the bender's practice session involving manipulation of the chunks of ice.

Sokka agreed, confident that the job would stay the same.

"Sokka, we're approaching the glacier run!"

Maybe not.

He jumped up from his relaxed position and looked over the side of the boat. Indeed they were approaching the run. Two large formations of ice towered over the water, with only a narrow pathway between them serving as the boats passage. His mouth agape at the sight. Huge glaciers that reminded him of his rock dodging were approaching and he could only wince as memories of his first time out flooded back to him.

As they entered the run the vessel picked up speed. It rocked frequently as ice slammed into the wood.

But he couldn't help the young warriors, they had to figure it out on their own. He was only there for moral guidance, and at the moment he felt more useless than ever.

He watched in horror as they narrowly missed each iceberg in turn. A few times the hull scraped against them, and it was a few more than he wanted to encounter, but after quickly examining the contact area and finding no damaged he would relax...until the next one came into view.

Had it really been four years since his first time? Anyone paying attention to him would think he had never done it before. If anything, _he _was the one that needed moral support.

* * *

After a few mild panic attacks, the orders coming from the boy's mouths were finally replaced with cheers and accomplished smiles. They were still in the run but the number of glaciers had thinned out and they were sure they were in the clear.

But the congratulations were silenced when one of the young men shouted something incomprehensible and pointed at the end of the run. Indeed there was something to mumble loudly about. A large iceberg blocked majority of their exit out of the run. But they were obviously were still going for it, even as Sokka held grimly onto the rim of the ship.

The water was picking up its current as it rushed for freedom and the boat was being carried along with it. This was when Sokka started to relax.

Instead of contradicting one another, the warriors seemed to _want_ to co-operate in the face of doom. One would shout something and the other would follow. One would mess up and another would help. This continued until each man was at his own station and each action require to pass the blockage was done.

But as they approached quicker and quicker, and the true size of the ice became apparent, every member on the small vessel seemed to be finding something to hold on to.

Muscles tensed as the frozen tower collided with their only means of keeping them out of the frozen water.

As Sokka picked himself from the deck of the ship, being knocked down from the force, he noticed the warriors gathered around the opposite side of the craft.

He hoped with all his might that they were not sinking as he joined them. One kindly pointed out the attraction and Sokka's eyes went wide.

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**Cliffhangers are good yes?**

**Please R&R, it would be extremely helpful and appreciated**

**8)**


	2. II Mysterious Eyes

**II Mysterious Eyes  
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The southern water tribe had grown significantly since the war ceased its destruction. Waterbenders from the northern tribe were confident enough to migrate and help with repairs. However, once repairs had been made, many stayed behind to live as a permanent resident.

The sister tribes were constantly trading and communicating. They would share resources and knowledge and pretty soon, the southern tribe was a thriving metropolis like its sibling in the north.

The only difference being that they lacked the large protective wall around its borders. In its place was a low barrier (made of snow) that protected the village from the harsh tundra winds during the long winter nights.

Katara, being a master waterbender, was personally in charge of training any young tribes people that showed any talent in waterbending.

Since the recent migration of waterbenders from the north, their numbers were increasing rapidly.

Aang sat happily on the sidelines during one of her lessons. The sun was setting slowly and a cast of orange light reflected from the tall glaciers close to the ice shore. Of course, since his coming to the south pole, he had acquired some ice-friendly clothes.

He had insisted on no furs, so they were stuffed with koala-lamb fur instead.

Finally the lesson came to an end and the avatar rose with a gust of air. Momo chattered happily and jumped onto his shoulder, tucking himself into Aang's hood. He walked over as she was drying a particularly wet pupil.

"That went better than yesterday."he said smiling widely. Yesterdays session had resulted in a very wet and angry sky bison after some beginners water whips. Aang has insisted that Appa stay away from the shore today.

Katara finished pulling the water from the child's clothes and smiled to the airbending monk.

"Definitely. They're picking it up really fast...even if it does require a lot more drying of wet clothes."

They both laughed merrily. It had been nothing but good times lately. The world hadn't had a reason to call upon the avatar's help for almost a year now, and it felt good for Aang just to let his hair down (metaphorically speaking).

The sun soon started to disappear behind the wall of sea. The orange light turned to a violet one and the wind was getting colder. Katara hugged her arms as she looked out over the glimmering surface. Sokka had not yet returned with his new batch of ice dodgers, and it was dangerous to navigate a ship in the dark when there were icebergs everywhere.

Aang hugged her shoulders and she felt and instead wave of heat go over her body.

"Don't worry, if they don't come back before nightfall I'll go looking for them."

She smiled and they slowly made their way back to the village.

* * *

He had been gone for a while now.

She had watched the full moon slowly ascend from its sleeping place as it took its position among the stars. She could feel the surge of power that only it brought to her and all the other waterbenders of the world.

During her time back at the southern water tribe, Katara had begun to practice bloodbending under its influence. Though she had hated the idea of forcing another's body to bend to her whim, it did have its advantages.

She would often use it if a warrior had returned home from a particularly bad hunt (usually involving more reckless spear throwers) to clot the blood and heal the wound faster. She also found that it could help blood flow quicker through the body, heating up the person.

Since she had started putting the technique into practise, she found that she was starting to use it through the daytime as well. Though it wasn't as strong as it was under the full moon, and usually resulted in low blood pressure and therefore a dizzy feeling, it was very handy for those times of hers that only came monthly. She was grateful.

Suddenly the silouhette of sails against the moonlight appeared, and so did the wings of a staff she knew all too well.

Aang landed on the fresh layer of snow in front of her...but the look on his face was worrying. It was sort of a mixture of excitement and fear, and it was only when Sokka came of the boat that she knew why.

A body lay limp in his hold. Its arms dangling in a lifeless way.

On closer inspection she could see that the body in question belonged to a woman, about her own age. Her strategically placed clothes were torn and had lost all their colour. They were nothing but rags hanging from her thin yet curved form.

What struck Katara as interesting was her hair.

In the dim light of the moon it was hard to see it for what it truly was, but at that moment it reminded her of sand. It was close to blending in with the snow.

Sokka quickly walked up to her from the shore.

"We need to get her inside...I think she's still alive."

With that they sprung into action. Aang flew ahead and cleared out the closest igloo he could see. Katara ran inside and prepped the bed, and Sokka followed close behind, lying the girl on the fur sheets that lined the frame.

Aang and Katara sat next to each other beside the bed, mostly looking on in disbelief that this girl was just found floating in the middle of the ocean.

"Aang, heat up your hands and try to warm her up." katara said as calmly as she could, though a hint of panic rose in her voice.

The avatar obeyed and pressed his palms on the woman's torso, shivering at the temperature of her frozen skin.

While he was occupied, she placed her hands on the chest, feeling for the blood in her body. It was close to ice and moving slowly but moving.

"Where did you find her?" Katara asked as she slowly began to move the blood through the veins.

Sokka jumped forward excitedly.

"There we were, just about to exit the run when this enormous iceberg emerged at our exit." he said making exaggerated movements with his hands. "We just managed to escape, but there was a loud POOOWWWOOOOSSSH!!!"

Katara sighed in annoyance as his sound effects went beyond what was desired of the conversation.

"Then we all looked over the edge of the boat,"he continued" and there she was, floating on an ice platform. We think she might have come out of the iceberg when we clipped it."

Aang looked at Katara, his eyes asking if it were possible.

"Well we did find you in an iceberg Aang. Who knows, maybe she was from a hundred years ago too."

The monks eyes lit up at the thought, and she could see what he was thinking. 'What if this person was another airbender? What if she managed to escape the fire nations wrath but was frozen?'

The idea of them reviving another airbender only made them more determined to be successful. Aang started to move to other parts of the body while Katara started to pump to blood through the heart at a quicker rate.

* * *

The moon had risen higher now, and was starting its descend. Suki had wandered into the igloo where Sokka was when he hadn't come to bed.

She had come from Kyoshi island knowing that Sokka was being trained for being the next chief. She knew he wouldn't be able to return to her for quite some time, so had requested that aang take her to him as a surprise.

But it was she who was surprised when she realised how cold it was. She stayed anyway.

And now all four friends were watching as slowly a natural colour started to come back to the girls skin.

"How come it didn't take this long for you to revive me?" Aang asked as he ran out of skin to heat (at least, places he felt comfortable touching)

"Because you revived yourself remember?" Sokka said, his back leaning against the door and his arms crossed.

"We cracked the iceberg open, a big light shot out of it and you cam stumbling out like you had only been asleep for the past hundred years."

"What strikes me as odd" Katara started" is that you had the power of your past lives to keep your from encasing yourself in an icy tomb. How did she manage to survive?"

Just as she pointed to the girl, her hand rose and reached her forehead. Both Aang and Sokka jumped back in surprise as the young woman groaned, most likely from the pain in her still frozen limbs.

Then she opened her eyes, and Katara cocked her head in amusement.

Thinking that this person was an airbender (seeing as airbenders shaved their heads, so some of them could have easily had light coloured hair) she expected to see stormy grey eyes like Aang. But instead, she was greeted by bright ocean blue eyes, ones that you usually only came across in a water tribe. Could she have been half waterbender?

"Where am I?"

She said, her voice croaky and almost too hard to understand.

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**Woot! Chapter 2!**

**Please Review :D**


	3. III Trampled Snow

**Earlier that day...**

Sokka was in a state of shock at the blue skinned body laying atop the ice. Everyone fell silent as they thought of possible solutions to the problem.

"We could take her back and give her a burial..."

"Maybe we could put up posters and someone will give us a reward..."

"She's not a lost polar-dog for goodness sake..."

"Guys stop it." said Sokka not peeling his eyes away from the figure. It was definitely female, and he could swear that she had no hair. But the faint shadows from the setting sun told him otherwise. Her clothes (or what was left of them) were decaying and torn and singed in multiple places.

He could hear some sighs of disappointment at the discovery that she was indeed wearing under-wraps.

He suddenly pulled back from the side of the rocking vessel and grabbed a length of rope. "Pull her in, she could still be alive."

The boys doubted it but obeyed their future chieftain none the less. So after a bit of struggle of hanging off the edge of the boat and trying not to weigh their clothes down with the icy sea water, they managed to haul the young woman into the boat.

Once safely aboard, Sokka grabbed a blanket and wrapped her up, covering the large amount of exposed skin (again more sighs), before handing her over to one of the older ones of the young men. He enthusiastically held her in his arms and refused to let go when any of the others volunteered to give him a break.

By now it was getting dangerously dark and he had to call everyone's attention away from the frozen damsel in order to turn the ship around and head back to land.

Just as the last ray of light drowned itself in the ocean, a familiar figure came gliding towards them.

It was an unmistakable silouhette, even though Aang had grown reasonably taller in the last few years. But as the airbender landed, Sokka could still see the childish features that defined his face. The only difference was that now his eyes had a glint of maturity.

"Aang we need your help. We found an ice body, you know, like you were." he said jumping forward and almost hugging the monk. Having a fire, water, earth and air bender in a ship that was in the middle of an iceberg infested ocean in complete darkness...was a godsend.

Aang noticed the pale skinned female at the base of the mast and walked forward. Removing some of the blankets and some of the torn garments (which pretty much fell to pieces as he touched them.) and placed a hand on her body. He closed his eyes and waited, and listened.

"She's still alive." he said snapping his eyes open before turning to Sokka.

"Aang, can you lead us back to shore. Its pitch black out here."

The avatar looked around and he was right. Apart from the small amount of light coming from the mast mounted lamp, its was completely dark. Steeping out of the light meant relinquishing sight of your own hand.

"Don't worry, I'll light the way. Just follow me, its not far." he said tapping his glider on the boat, unlatching the wings. It was only then that Sokka noticed that the glider had been modified. The wingspan was larger and so was the length of the staff. Most likely it was adjusted to account for his growth spurt.

Then they were moving. Going around the glacier run proved easier than going trough it. Not only were there less obstacles, but now they controlled how fast they went.

Aang found the shore and extinguished the flame he held in his hands to help navigate. He landed softly next to Katara who didn't waste time in giving him a welcome back hug. But seeing the expression on his face she withdrew.

Sokka had seen Aang land and didn't even bother slowing down before the boat crashed into the icy shore.

Prying the girl from the appointed baby-sitter's arms, he carried her to the village.

* * *

**Trampled Snow**

Her awaken didn't last very long before slipping back into unconsciousness.

Everyone was mostly in shock that 1) she was alive and 2) that her origins were completely foreign to them.

"Maybe she came from a time before Aang..." said Sokka thoughtfully "...I mean, think about it. All the nations would have had to split from something."

They all sat in silence pondering his theory.

"But then her clothes wouldn't be as well sewn." said Suki inspecting the rags that were hanging over some old/broken spears.

In their haste, they had carried the girl into the weapons igloo. Luckily, there was always a bed there in case of storage mishaps involving the more sharper artillery.

They all looked at Suki, a bit befuddled at how she had called the clothes 'well sewn'.

"Are you kidding? They're falling apart!" shouted Sokka unnecessarily. Suki glared at him and he slunk into the corner.

"She's right Sokka. This used to be a really fine material. I'd say silk of some sorts." said Katara picking up a torn piece and rubbing it between her fingers. "I can't tell what colour it used to be...even in the full light."

Aang lit up a handful of fire and found she was right. The clothes were completely ridden of all colour.

Katara continued to inspect the clothing before finding something. She reached her hand into the skirt of the outfit and pull out a small satchel.

They all stared at it before a small vile fell out of a hole in the bottom and clinked on the floor. Aang picked it up as it rolled to a stop at his feet and examined it.

"No label...it looks poisonous."

"I know what that is!" said Sokka jumping forward and grabbing the small bottle of milky white liquid. He pulled out the small cork that was sealing it and took a whiff.

"Its cactus juice."

Everyone turned in unison at the small and weak voice coming from the bed. The girl had managed to hoist herself onto her elbows. Her smile was large and kind, even as she held her head in some sort of pain.

"Digested normally it can cause hallucination. But injected directly into the blood can give it a paralysing effect."

Katara walked over and pushed her gently back down onto the pillows. She closed her eyes, but her smile still stuck to her face.

"Where am I?" she repeated, though this time was a little more understandable.

"You're in the south pole." said Suki returning the smile, even though her eyes was closed and she couldn't see it.

"Where's that?" she replied absent mindedly.

Katara knew a smart-ass remark was about to erupt from Sokka's mouth without any thought involving her condition, so she quickly intervened.

"What's your name?" she asked, placing her water covered hands over the young woman's forehead.

She opened her eyes as the pain disappeared and thought over the question carefully.

"I...I'm not sure."

Katara stopped and looked at her thoughtfully. "Maybe you just need some rest. You might remember in the morning, but right now you need rest."

She nodded quietly and Katara grabbed some extra fur blankets from the other side of the room. " Just sleep tonight and we'll come back to check on you tomorrow."

But she wasn't listening. She was already comfortably wrapped in the warm furry sheets and drifting off into an uneven sleep.

The friends walked out of the igloo and started to head for the centre of the village where the 'ice palace' resided.

It wasn't much of a palace, that was just the name Sokka had bestowed on it seeing as he was part of the construction team who built it. On the outside it looked like any other ice village building. But like the rest of the domiciles in the south pole, it was only the outside that was made of ice. The inside consisted of stone walls and wooden floors. This combination allowed them to have fireplaces indoors while keeping the heat in. It was quite pleasant during a blizzard to come inside and sit by a blazing fire.

They reached a pair of thick oak doors and pushed them open. After coming through the door they found themselves in a corridor that split two ways. Sokka and Suki went one way while Katara and Aang went the other, both pairs giving their goodnights to the other.

They walked down the corridor for quite a while before reaching a set of doors. One on each side of the hallway. Hakoda had insisted that the avatar have his own room, but they both knew it was only because they were older then when they had just started out together. Now they weren't even capable of a goodnight kiss in the palace as there was always some sort of guard on duty near their rooms. However, they knew that they were leaving for the earth kingdom in a couple of days, so air kisses sufficed.

Sokka was awoken rudely by a pair of footsteps running down the hallway. He rolled onto his side and reached an arm over. But unlike last night, there was no Suki to hold onto. It was a common occurrence as she was strained in the stealthy arts, and she did comment once about how he slept like a flying hippo-cow.

But at the moment he was wondering what the commotion was about so early in the morning. At least he thought it was early...it was hard to tell with the fact that there weren't any windows in order to keep in the heat.

As quickly as his sleeping limbs would allow him, he slipped on his blue furs and sttod up. He looked in the mirror and rubbed a hand on the small beard hanging off his chin. He then grabbed for a hair tie but it slipped out his fingers and he waved his hand in a dismissive sort of way before walking out the door.

He walked out of the 'ice palace' and looked around. It was indeed early in the morning and as far as he could see, not a soul was awake.

He was about to turn back into the tall snowy tower before he heard a loud scream.

That was when Aang appeared next to him and he noted mentally to ask the avatar how he got up so quickly.

"There it is again.." he said almost to himself before running off in its direction. Sokka followed, his feet sinking into the fresh morning snow. He reached the weapons igloo before realising that its previous occupant was not inside. He then noticed Aang running towards the shore behind it and peered around the icy hut.

Something dropped in his stomach and he felt fear in his chest. He started a fumbled run down the hill towards the scene.

Upon his arrival his limbs froze and he stood in knee high snow, staring dumb founded at what was happening.

A girl sat, slumped over her waist in the snow. Her hair was long and it dangled gracefully and satin a silky lump on the icy surface. Her clothes were blue and elegant and he felt a pang in his heart.

"Yue?"

The girl looked up at him and his hopes were dashed. It wasn't Yue, but rather the girl he had rescued the night before. Her hair was cleaned and by the looks of it Suki had had a turn at braiding it. It was almost pure white, but in his own haste he hadn't realised that the faint tint of golden streaked it.

Aang patted his shoulder as he breathed deeply in almost relief. He could understand how he could've mistaken her for Yue.

"What happened? I heard someone scream!" came a shrill voice from the top of the hill. Suki wrapped the young woman's arms around her shoulders and dragged her back to the igloo.

"Its ok," cried Suki "no fatalities."

Reaching the igloo, Suki sat the girl back on the bed. "There you go sunshine." she said softly

Everyone raised a brow at her and she shrugged. "I figured because she is always smiling and she can't remember her name..."

"You still can't remember?" ask Katara hurriedly

The girl shook her head, still clutching her abdomen. Katara opened the blue furs now covering her body and coated her hands in water. The water glowed as it touched the skin.

"Its ok. Your body just isn't used to moving yet."

She nodded as Katara began to undo and redo the messy braids in her hair.

"Suki said...that you found me in an iceberg?" she asked in a small voice.

Aang stepped forward. "Yea. Are you sure you can't remember anything?"

She pondered his question before smiling widely. "I can fight. But that's about it."

Sokka was just about to ask if she meant if that was all she could do or if it was all she could remember before Suki saved her the agony of having to answer.

"Really?" she said, sounding genuinely interested.

The girl picked up the tone in her voice and stood up, not showing any of the pain that was previously overtaking her body. The smiled widely at each other before both threw off their heavy furs and raced outside. This left both women in their under wrappings, and though they were absolutely freezing, they were too busy concentrating on other matters.

Katara, Aang and Sokka followed closely behind, following the two girls past the protective walls and to a large group of turtle-seals. The seals scattered as they approached, leaving a large patch of trample snow in their wake.

* * *

**Suki can't resist a challenge ;)**

**...Even if it is from a slighty less than healthy person.....no one was forced anyway XD**

**Please Review **


	4. IV First Greetings

**First greetings**

Katara was the last to join the gaang, now standing a far distance from the two eagerly smiling women. She had gathered up the furs in her arms and dumped them down on the snow.

"Suki what are you doing?" she yelled. Both of the girls had now taken a fighting stance and looked just about ready to kick the other's head off. But they didn't look intimidating. In fact both were chatting and laughing before Suki looked over to Sokka.

"Sokka! Call the match!"

He was equally as shocked as the rest of them, but he knew better than to defy a ready-to-fight Suki.

"Umm...Suki, Kyoshi warrior from Kyoshi island and....uhhh..."

Both women dropped their arms as he tried to think of a title to call the stranger.

"...girl that was frozen in ice for who knows how long, and keeps cactus juice on her person..."

"JUST SAY GO!"they both shouted in unison.

"....go?"

Almost immediately both girls jumped back. Each took a different readying stance but both arms were held out in front of them. Suki seemed to keep herself close to the ground for balance and the opponent was almost on her tiptoes.

Then they sprung forward.

The collided and both left forearms met each other, with a loud thud erupting from the contact.

Then Suki threw a right, but the girl blocked it with her left arm. Then she threw a left but it was blocked by a right arm.

Then it reversed, and the girl was the one throwing the punches. But they were blocked as quickly as they were executed by the opposing arm from the other girl. Then legs started to get involved.

With Suki's Kyoshi stance close to the ground her legs made sweeping movements, attempting to knock the opponent off their feet. They were synchronised with her hands which were blocking and punching as the other girl moved.

The stranger, being on her toes, was successfully jumping all of the sweeping movements and several times her body swung around and made a swinging kick, narrowly missing Suki's head.

"There's something about this that seems strange.." said Aang thoughtfully, focusing on the movements each fighter was making.

"Yea...they outmatch each other. I've never seen anyone outmatch Suki apart from Azula."

Katara's eyes lit up. "Wait...her movements. Her kicks, her swings....they're like Azula's!"

And indeed as they watched and pondered over her likeness to Azula, her body flipped back over itself and she landed on her feet.

Sokka and Katara's mouths hung open before Sokka pointed an accusing finger "She's...she's..."

"Fire nation" said Aang calmly. They both looked at him quizzically but he merely continued to observe the battle. "But that's not what seems strange. There's something about her chi, it gives off its own energy...like she's....different."

"Different? We found her in a block of ice. And as I recall, the last time that happened the occupant was indeed 'different'."

But Aang ignored the warrior and continued to watch, just as Suki delivered a powerful kick to the girls stomach that sent her shooting back a few feet and landing on her behind.

Suki gasped and covered her hands with her mouth. "I'm sorry."

The gaang then proceeded to run forward to investigate, but they were stopped as the young woman held up an open pal to them. She then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and slowly but steadily stood up.

Her legs buckled a little and her body swayed in a unnatural way. Suki smiled and so did the girl.

Then, reaching behind her, she exposed two fans. She flicked them open delicately and held them in her kyoshi stance.

"Aren't you going to get a weapon?" she asked teasingly.

The girl looked at the rest of them who had taken a few steps back at the sight of the fans. She then twisted her neck around and cracked it before flexing her fingers.

Sokka turned to Aang. "I think this is about to get ugly." and Aang nodded in a agreeing manner.

"I'll step in if need be."

They faced each other yet again. This time Suki made a starting move and started to run forward, her legs barely touching the ice as she sped towards her opponent.

The girl stood still for a moment before her hands erupted in a flurry of fire. Suki was a bit taken back, and her pace slowed down but she kept going forward.

Now instead of just hands, it was fans against fire. Trails of the dark orange element follwed her every movement as the fans blew them away.

Katara tugged on Sokka's shirt. "Look at the flames..."

Sokka peered closely at the fire and squinted his eyes. He wasn't sure if it was a trick of the morning light or if it was actually happening, but the flames seemed to be getting brighter...no, they were changing colour. Now they were a bright yellow, almost white.

Aang noticed too and they all looked at each other. But they didn't stop changing. They continued to get brighter until the yellow dimmed and they turned a bright green.

"Alright Aang, blue fire is bad enough but I think green means its time to call it off."

Aang nodded and picked up his staff he had placed on the snow. He swooped it around and shot of air right at the two warriors. The flames extinguished and the fans escaped from Suki's hands. Then both women were blown to the ground.

"Aang! Come on, that was getting good."

All three of them approached the girls. The braids had fallen out of the strangers hair and Suki's was sticking up in odd places. They both rose themselves to their feet and bowed in a dignified manner.

"Okay, you can fight." said Suki accepting the fact. But the girl shook her head and smiled widely.

"No, _you_ can fight. I can bend."

"Well I hope you two have found out that violence isn't the way to solve anything."

But the girl jumped forward excitedly. "Are you kidding? It solved everything."

Aang was shocked at her reaction and almost angry that she was going against him. But she relaxed a little and held out her hand. Sokka took a hold of it and shook it.

"Hi, my name is Tiao." she said, her smile almost too big for her face.

Sokka stopped shaking and the gaang exchanged looks.

* * *

**A fighting scene. My first ever!**

**I also have a picture of what Tiao looks like. **

**http: // peridotkitty dot deviantart dot com/art/Water-Tribe-Tiao-114290301 (without 'dot' and spaces)  
**

**Or you can click on my profile ;P**

**Please review, I appreciate the love :D**


	5. V The Bounty Hunter

**V The Bounty Hunter**

Snow had started to fall by the time the mock battle had ended. Throwing the furs back on the half naked girls, they made their way back to the ice palace, just as the wind pick up.

Aang said something about going to see Appa. He was carrying Tiao's rags and forgot to relinquish them as he made his way over to the stables. But it wasn't noticed as the girl now had warmer clothes and none of them really cared what happened to the tattered clothes now.

Katara, Suki and Tiao went into a separate room as Sokka headed for the kitchen. He mumbled something about being banished before he was out of earshot, and the three girls started their chatter.

"So, how many bruises have you two got now?" Katara asked sternly. The two warriors looked sheepishly at each other before a finger pointed frustratingly to the bed.

Tiao lay down. She had removed her thick outer layer of furs upon entry of the heated room and was now only wearing what would be considered water tribe travelling clothes.

But they were quickly removed, along with her under-wrappings, as Katara ran her healing hands over the girls bare chest.

"So how long have you been fighting?" asked Suki from across the room. She had rummaged through a small cabinet and pulled out a scroll, which she had unfurled and started to read.

Tiao winced as Katara soaked the water into a forming contusion.

"Since I was a little girl. My father was a bounty hunter, so he knew the bad characters that the world gave birth too. He was rather protective of me, but couldn't always be there."

Katara poked at her side and Tiao rolled over obediently.

"Was your father a good fighter?" she continued, amazed at how much Tiao had remembered in only a short period of time.

"I couldn't really say. I was only a little girl when he left. He was hired by somebody over in the earth kingdom...he sort of never came back."

"I know how tough that is. My father left when I was young as well."said Katara, concentrating on a spot on the skin that was already starting to tinge purple.

"But he came back right?"

"Yes. But it was only my brother and me for quite some time."

"What about your mother?"

Suki stopped stopped reading and looked up. Katara had lapsed into a silence that Tiao seemed to understand, as she nodded into her pillow. She then propped herself up on her elbows and looked at her.

"I understand. I was mostly alone when my father left on his missions. It was hard. I would just go stay with my neighbour until he came back. At least you had a brother to look after you."

Katara nodded, still keeping her silence. Suki rolled up the scroll again and leaned over on her chair.

"So what happened to your mother?" she asked, genuinely interested. It was something that usually someone wouldn't like discussing, but Tiao didn't seem as affected as Katara was on the subject.

"To be honest I'm not really sure. My father never spoke of her, and neither did our neighbours. It was almost like she never existed."

Katara then slapped a hand on her back signalling she was done, and Tiao began to put her breast wraps back on.

"Alright. Is there any on your legs." she said running her fingers along Tiao's calves. But before she could inspect any further, Tiao and quickly tucked her legs against her chest. The reaction was so quick that Katara's fingers were still outstretched, and she and Suki were both looking at her quizzically.

Tiao exchanged glances with the two girls and smiled awkwardly.

"Do I take that as a yes then?" said Katara reached for her legs once more. But Tiao jumped off the bed and to the other side of the room, still trying to maintain her composure.

"No its fine...there's no bruises there." She felt around on the wall behind her until her hand closed on a doorknob. She opened the door revealing a small bathroom.

"I'm just going to go the the little girls room." she said closng the door quickly behind her.

Katara heard a click signalling the lock being activated and she sighed.

"Okay Suki, how about you?"

* * *

Aang went to the stables as quickly as he could. The wind and snow had picked up and was now its own little blizzard.

He reached the stable and walked inside. Like the rest of the buildings, the inside was wood, though the floor was stone to make cleaning a lot easier. He bent down and rubbed his hand along the cold stony floor. It was one of Toph's contributions to the rebuilding of the south pole, and he felt himself smile subconsciously.

A low grumble could be heard from the other end of the stables and Aang snapped out of his thoughts. He walked over to Appa and patted him on the head lovingly.

The sky bison then sniffed at Aang, and that was when he realised he still had Tiao's rags in his hand.

He rubbed them between his fingers. There was something about that girl that he couldn't put his finger on. Something, that wasn't of this world, and there was something about her clothes. Yes they were fire nation, but they were ragged and rid of distinguishing colour. He knew for a fact that being frozen would not destroy clothes, and neither did it bleach hair.

There was only one person he could think of that could help him solve this dilemma. He sat down against Appa's fur and crossed his legs. With the cloth still clenched in his hand, he put his fists together and closed his eyes. This was the most relaxing time, between worlds. He was not consious of what was happening around him, and yet everything was happening behind his eyelids. He could hear soothing music in his ears, and it was what snapped him out of his trance.

He was in a familiar setting. Large bamboo stalks grew behind the large archway that he sat beneath. In front of him were large twisted trees that grew out of the crystal clear water below. He looked in the water and saw a glimpse of the two familiar reflections of Tui and La. Tui faded before La as they were replaced with Roku's regally dressed figure.

He rose out of the water with a discerning smile.

"Hello Aang, its been a while."

"Yes it has Roku. But I come here seeking advice.

"Ah yes, the firebender. The one that was frozen just as you were. The one that is completely oblivious to the fact that you are the avatar." he smiled warmly down at him. "I'm afraid there is not much advice I can give you. But I can tell you what I know."

* * *

Tiao leant her back up against the door. She sighed in relief and walked over to the basin that had already been pre-filled with bathing water. She plunged her hand into it and concentrated on her firebending. This in turn heated up the water.

Once she was happy with the temperature, she removed her travelling clothes and stepped into it, leaving her wrappings intact. A pain erupted from the surface of her skin on her inner thighs and she hissed in agony through clenched teeth.

Suki and Katara both perked up on the other side of the door, before pressing their ears against the wood.

"Tiao, are you ok?" they both asked in near unison.

She pulled herself out of the water ad the pain almost immediately subsided. "Y-yea, I'm fine."

She heated up her body and the water clinging to her skin evaporated into steam. She placed her blue clothes back on and opened the door.

The two girls almost fell forwards as they still had their faces pressed against the door as it opened. But they quickly regained themselves, and the them stood silently for a moment.

It wasn't until a knock came at the door, and Suki rushed to answer it that Tiao finally spoke.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Katara nodded quietly ad smiled. "Then we wont ask." Suki nodded in a silent agreement before opening the door. It was Sokka. He had a mouthful of food as well as an armful. He swallowed what was in his mouth and smiled. "I brought some food for you ladies."

If he wasn't so much of a stranger, Tiao would of hugged him right there for breaking the uncomfortable silence.

* * *

"I knew her father. He was a highly respected bounty hunter in the fire nation."

"Like June?"

"No. Bai was a good person. He never killed his targets, not once. That was why he was so respected. He could always subdue his enemy without injury, and then the customer could do with them as they pleased."

"But what if the buyer just killed them anyway?"

"It didn't matter to Bai, he thought it none of his business. In his mid he was doing nothing wrong, he was only finding these people and then notifying the customer where they were. He was considered the best in the business." Roku and Aang walked through the shallow waters of the yellow tinged swamp. The chorusing of spirit world animals was relaxing and it was easy to lose all trail of thought here. Aang had to make sure his mind was set on listening to his past life.

"I was a personal friend of Bai, before I was revealed as the avatar."

"So was he a friend of Sozin as well? Like you?"

"No. Sozin did not know Bai. Bai was considered a peasant, so Sozin never conversed with him. Me and him would go to the foot of the mountains and train in hand to hand combat. He was not a firebender like I was so we would just train in the traditional arts. The it was revealed to everyone that I was the avatar, and I had to leave. I didn't talk to him for many years."

They stepped over a large tree root to a small clearing. It reminded Aang of the Lion-turtle's shell that he had meditated on to ask for his past lives help. They both sat down on the hard surface and faced each other.

"Then it came to the time when I had to train in waterbending. I trained in the Northern Water tribe, and it was there that I saw Bai again. He was exiting a small ice house with a small package in his arms. At first I kept myself hidden, he was a different man than the one I knew. His handsome face was now riddled with scars, and he almost looked sad. But Once I was sure it was him then I greeted him. He didn't really react to me and tried to ignore me. But as much as he tried he couldn't."

"So, it was only a coincidence you saw him again? Or was it that he was looking for you?"

"He never would say. Of course he knew I would have had to learn waterbending, so it is possible that he waited for me. But at the time I wasn't really focused on that particular point. I gave him a friendly hug and as he hugged me back I got a look at the package in his arms. It was a small baby, one that would only be a few weeks old. Its hair was almost white and its eyes bright blue. I would have asked, but as soon as I had greeted Bai, he had farewelled me. I didn't even get to see if it were a boy or girl, he was gone that quickly." Roku sighed and looked at Aang. "It was the last I ever saw of him."

"That has to be Tiao. How many baby's in the world have white hair and blue eyes?" A thought struck Aang and he was forced to stop himself. "Do you think she was touched by Tui?"

Roku shook his head. "I doubt it Aang. Tiao's hair isn't pure white, and she is in fact a firebender."

Aang nodded. "Well, how can I find out more about her? How did she survive in the ice? Why is her fire green?" he asked almost to himself before looking up. "And even if she knows the answers, how do I know she's telling the truth?"

Roku smiled and stood up, Aang followed his example. "I believed you have a friend who can help you with that." With the final word Roku faded, leaving Aang alone with the thought.

He sisghed, not knowing much more than he did and closed his eyes. He heard the faint melody in his ears again, but it quickly faded to be replaced with the sound of howling winds.

He opened his eyes. Appa was sleeping behind him and the sun was setting, though it was hard to tell through the white haze of snow.

He stood up and walked to the exit, the rags still in his hands. He used his waterbending to keep the snow away from him as he headed towards the palace.

When he reached the corridors, he heard voices coming from Katara's room. He knocked on the door and the noises stopped briefly. He turned the handle and opened it. Sokka, Katara, Suki and Tiao were gathered in a circle in the middle of the wooden floor. They had been talking, except for Tiao who had been talking and stitching up the small hole in her miniature knapsack.

"Hey Aang." said Katara, handing him a sesame roll that Sokka had brought from the kitchen. He grabbed it and took a bite, chewing gratefully before leaning down closer to her. "Can I talk to you outside for a minute?"

Katara nodded and followed the airbender out the door. He closed it behind them and heard the chatter pick up behind them again.

"Katara, we need to take her to the earth kingdom with us."

"Why? She's fine here. I'm sure my dad will take good care of her, we'll only be a day or two."

"That's not the reason. I think it will be worth our while to take her to see Toph. She'll be able to ask Tiao questions and know if she's lying."

"So you don't trust her, is that it?"

"I just think we need to be sure about her past before we open up to her. She might have been frozen only recently, maybe since the war ended." he knew he was lying, but Katara didn't have to know that. All he knew was that he had to convince Katara to let Tiao come along. Roku wanted her to and that was good enough for Aang.

"All right, as long as you think Appa can carry all our weight."

"Its only you me and her, Appa can handle it."

"No, Sokka and Suki are coming along too. They want to see Toph as much as I do."

Aang rubbed the bridged of his nose with two fingers. " Guess it'll be ok, just don't bring too much."

"You think, because I'm a girl, I'm going to bring along a lot of stuff? Is that it? Because it is you that wants to bring her along, so don't go blaming me for bringing Appa down."

She opened the door and closed it in a huff. Aang stood there dumbfounded for a second before turning around and heading into his own room.

Katara stood with her arms folded. The room was quiet, so most likely they had all heard the conversation. But she ignored them and sat back down between Tiao and Sokka.

Tiao snapped her fingers in excitement. "I know what you all need, some dragon whiskey!

They all exchanged looks with her and her palm connected with her forehead. "I guess you don't have any."

* * *

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	6. VI Recession

**VI Recession **

Zuko flicked through page after page of the documents that had piled up on his desk. Empty bottles of ink littered the floor and so did the remains of many charred brushes.

He had been lucky enough to inherit the throne of the fire nation just as it went into a recession. With an increasing amount of civilians out of a job because of the extermination of most of the fire nation army and with a current baby boom, economy value was dangerously low.

Not only that, but food resources were getting scarcer by the day. He had recently signed a treaty with the earth kingdom that could relieve the farmer's of most of their stress of feeding a growing nation, but the Earth kingdom had barely enough rice for themselves.

So as he strained his eyes, reading through the long documents and letters that would determine his country's future, he couldn't help but let his mind wander.

It had been almost a year since he had last seen Mai. He had instructed the former governor of new Ozai to take a post over at Omashu to help rebuild the community. Of course this was being done under the watchful eye of King Bumi. As far as he had heard, progress was great and the city was almost to its former glory.

But both the governor and his wife insisted on Mai going with them, much to her disliking. Their reasons were that they didn't trust leaving tom tom alone in that city, even though he was much older, and would rather a member of their one family mind him when they could not.

Of course Mai did not object, like she was taught to since her childhood, and merely mumbled a farewell to Zuko before boarding the air ship.

At first he had been sad. But as the effects of the recession continued to get worse, he had been too distracted to notice. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and rolled up the newly signed scroll before unfurling another. This one was a letter from his uncle, and he was immediately snapped out of his day dream state to read it.

It was the first new he had heard from his uncle since his going back to re open his tea shop, 'The Jasmine Dragon'.

Zuko lit an extra candle on the wall behind him and read the letter out loud.

_Dear Zuko,_

_I have heard of the disheartening news of the fire nation and offer this advice. You must always bite into the cloud sandwich before you find the silver lining._

Zuko's hand made contact with his forehead and he noted mentally never to impersonate his uncle again, never the less tell him about it.

_I know the stress you must be going through, and the recession isn't something that is going to fix itself overnight. I suggest you take a small vacation and put one of the advisors in charge. They are quite capable of dealing with the paperwork and will give you a much needed rest._

_The Jasmine Dragon is doing great. I am getting customers even from the water tribes now and it seems my tea has become a world favourite._

_I hope your well and wish to see a visit from you in the near future. _

_Iroh_

Zuko read through the letter again. He then rolled it up and set it down on the desk. He looked around his office briefly. The side walls were covered with a cabinet that was stuffed with scrolls. His desk was buried apart from his working space, and the wooden floor sported ink smudges where the bottles had been accidentally knocked away due to the lack of space.

He gave a disheartening sigh and rose to a standing position and making his way over to the door.

He opened it to find a guard on duty outside.

"Guard. Fetch one of my royal advisors if you please. I will be in my room."

The guard nodded obediently. Zuko found it near impossible to memorise all of his guards faces since they were always hidden behind the ghostly white masks. So he never made an effort to, and it seemed no one expected him to either.

He then began the walk back to his room. The corridors were long and lonely. Only the occasional chatter from servents behind doors could be heard in their silence. It was almost unneriving. But he could also use it to his advantage.

Their had been an increasing number of vigilante groups all over the world, or so he was told. Rumour around the palace was that there was several that were determined on revoking Zuko of the title fire lord. There were also rumours that one of these groups had been established by his father to de-throne him. But after a recent visit to the former fire lord Ozai, he knew that this wasn't true. If it were even possible, his father had become even more delirious in his years in prison. There was no way that he was making contact with the outside world, let alone operating his own organisation bent on mutiny.

So with the silence of the palace came his upper hand. He could hear footsteps coming towards him from the other end of the castle. A sneak attack was near impossible. Not only that, but guards were situated around every corner. No vigilante was getting in without being notice any time soon.

And just as he train of though finished, he heard hurried footsteps against the hardwood floors. He turned on his heel to see his oldest advisor, scurrying as fast as his scrawny legs could carry him. For a man as old as he was, he sure could move.

"Fire Lord Zuko." Stopping a few feet in front of him, he put his palm to his fist and bowed respectfully. Zuko nodded his head in recognition.

"Advisor Delun. I will be leaving this afternoon for the earth kingdom. I need you to temporarily to take over my duties here in the fire nation."

Delun seemed almost relieved at the news. With the recent stress that Zuko had been under, there had been threats of firing a few servants. So he graciously bowed again, hiding his smile in the process.

"In turn I will need you to alert the airship crew. I'm entrusting you with a great responsibility, I'm positive that you will be able to handle it."

The advisor nodded vigourously. "Yes Fire Lord, right away." and with that he scurried off again, this time with a spring in his step.

Zuko turned and continued his way to his room. He reached the large oak doors and pushed them open. A maid inside quickly dropped to the floor and apologised repeatedly.

"Its ok. In fact, I need you to do something for me. I need you to pack me some of my things, I will be visiting my uncle this afternoon."

* * *

The wind rushing against the airship was cold and strong. The ocean had come into view now that the airship had risen to its full altitude.

The fire nation city looked so peaceful from the air. The street lights were only just being lit as Agni made his daily journey into the ocean. The sun gave them their power, and so with its retirement, the fire nation rested. It was the only time of the day that the recession meant nothing.

Already, Zuko felt relieved. He was leaving his duties behind for the time being to just relax. He hadn't done so since becoming fore lord, and the thought was bringing on a wave of sleep. He could feel it. He lt go of the railing and walked inside. The airship was just a cosier version of a fire nation naval ship. It wasn't designed for war, but rather for comfort. He made his way through the main sitting room to a metal door. He turned the hatch that served as the knob and walked inside. It was practically a reflection of his room back in the palace, only smaller.

He removed his robe and crawled in under the silky sheets. A small fire crackled in the corner, flicking a yellow light over the large fire nation banner hanging on the wall. He stared at the large insignia until his eyelids grew heavy and he drifted into a long awaited sleep.

* * *

**Zuko Deserved his own personal chapter, seeing as he hadn't been mentioned yet.**

**I was going to flick back to the south pole, but I'm sure Aang will get over it XD**

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	7. VII Do Tell

**VII Do Tell**

Aang paced nervously in the hallway, trying to contemplate what he could say to make things better with Katara. But it turns out that Tiao had gained everybody's trust in the past day, and now she had been invited to stay in the same room as his girlfriend.

Which made getting her alone alot harder than he had anticipated.

But that wasn't why he was rubbing his hands together, almost starting a fire, about. In the past year, since the Gaang officially split up with the departure of Toph, he had been struggling with keeping his love life together.

A year ago he would've risked life and limb to be in the same room as her, now he just bends to Hakoda's whim and obediently retreats to his own room when instructed. And every-time he tried to get close to her, it only seems like she's pushing him away.

Now it just felt like it had before the end of the hundred year war. Him trying to win her affection without any signs telling him he was going in the right direction. But he wasn't giving up.

He stopped in front of the carved door, the water insignia stared at him, almost asking if he was willing to proceed. He raised a hand to knock, but quickly lowered it again. The voices coming from behind the door had stopped, and now only the shuffling of feet could be heard.

The flickering light emitting from the cracks near the floor dimmed and he could only guess they were getting ready to settle in. Finally.

He raised a hand again, preparing to knock for a second time. Just as he anticipated the collission between his skin and the splintery surface it opened.

He was startled, and almost found his head hitting the roof. The person, or people rather, were equally stunned as they watched Aang retreat to the opposite wall.

"Aang....what are you doing outside Katara's door?"

Suki held a hand out for him to grab. Tiao was holding in a snigger from behind her.

He straightened himself before the giggling ladies and brushed off imaginary dust from his clothes. "I was actually looking for Katara. Is she in?" he said looking as composed as he could, though he was nervous as hell to confront any upset female (experience courtesy of Toph).

"Actually, she's just fallen asleep. Me and Tiao promised we'd keep her company until she did. She was really upset, what did you say to her?"

Aang's face fell. He hadn't meant to make her upset, and he hung his head shamefully."Oh...that's okay, I can tell her in the morning."

Tiao exchanged a look of pity with Suki and they nodded silently.

"Well, Suki was just going to take me back to my igloo. Do you want to come?"

Aang looked up at the offer, almost considering it, but quickly shook his head. "No, you shouldn't have to go back into the cold. You can have my room."

Tiao's eyes widened at the sudden act of kindness to her. They hadn't even spoken much and now he was offering his room to her. Even Suki looked at him skeptically.

"Oh, well, that's kind of you, but I'm really only visiting anyway. I'm sure once we get to the earth kingdom I'll be out of your hair....ummm, fuzz."

Aang rubbed his scalp with an open palm. With all the excitement in the past few days he had forgotten to shave, and now sported and thin layer of dark fuzz on his head. They all broke into a quiet fit of giggles, mostly trying to rid the air of the feeling of depression that had developed while Aang was alone in the hallway.

"How about we compromise." said Tiao thoughtfully. "You can have your room, and I'll just sleep on the floor. Its still better than the igloo."

He stopped laughing and pondered the thought. After a while he finally shrugged and nodded in agreement.

"I'm a good listener, maybe you can tell me what's on your mind." she said lunging forward and grabbing his arm, leading him back to his room. She waved over her shoulder as Suki departed the opposite way down the corridor.

* * *

Aang's room was nothing like Katara's. While Aang's had a warm cosy feeling, Katara's was designed with a royal flare. It was larger with a more permanent fireplace. This one had a small pyre in the middle of the room that looked like it had been placed at the last second.

But there was plenty of floor space, so Tiao was happy. She carefully placed a parka that Katara had lent her on the floor and lay down on it.

"So...you're an airbender right?"

The question was unexpected and Aang had no idea how to respond. He merely stared stupidly at her before she rolled a hand in anticipation.

"Y-Yea, I am."

"I knew it, there's only one nation that tattoo's arrows on their head. My friend Jingfei would always tell me how close she was to getting some, but every year she'd come back arrow-less."

Aang took this all in in a heartbeat, now suddenly very interested in the conversation. "You knew an airbender?!"

He zipped over and sat next to her, crossing his legs like a child eagerly awaiting the end of a story.

Tiao smiled and lit the small fireplace. The flame flickered green in her palm, but as soon as it caught to the singed logs it changed to its natural yellow.

"Yeah, she came from the Western air temple. She'd come around every year for a visit with Qiu." Tiao seemed to drift off as she reached the end of her sentence, reliving her memories.

Aang had a look of intrigue, surprise and also confusing and Tiao quickly caught it once she had snapped back.

"Qiu was her sky bison. Jingfei told me the last time I visited her that Qiu was going to have calves. I was so happy, she said I could have one."

Aang's unusually large smile slowly started to fade away. "That was nearly a year ago, I hope she's had them." Tiao said excitedly. But Aang was slowly coming to the realisation that his brain had blocked out since the mentioning of airbenders. There was none left. He had looked. But as Tiao looked back at hi, searching for a reaction, he put on the best fake smile he could. She must of bought it because she smiled back.

Wanting to escape the topic Aang stretched his arms high above his heard and imitated a yawn. "Well, I'm tired, and we've got a long day ahead of us. We should get some sleep."

Tiao agreed silently and wrapped the parka around herself like a cocoon. To her the sleep came fast and easy, almost like an infant, and Aang was jealous. He knew he probably wouldn't catch a wink. He'd be worrying too much about Katara and what was going to happen. But at least he got something out of the night. He managed to learn that Tiao was indeed from his time, or even before him. To distract his mind, he began to pre-think of questions he could ask Tiao while Toph was around.

Aang rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly and sighed, before flicking his wrist. In an instant, the lively flame that was lighting the room, was gone.

* * *

**I'd like to thank EmiieRoxs for her wonderfully helpful review 3 3**

**And anymore like hers are greatly appreciated. You can dish it out, I wouldn't ask for criticism and then criticise about it being too harsh...like some :P**


	8. VIII Embarkment

**VIII Embarkment **

Aang awoke with a start the next morning.

At least he thought it was the next morning, it was so hard to tell with no windows. He rubbed his forehead tiredly anyway and looked around. The fire pit in the middle of the room was charred and cold, and the piece of floor that was previously occupied was now empty. The parka that served as Tiao's mattress and blanket was gone and all evidence of her being there had vanished, including her torn rags and her small knapsack.

"Maybe it was all a dream." he said to himself hopefully, remembering the trouble he had had with Katara the night before.

He raised himself up to a sitting position and the blankets that covered him fell over Momo, who was sleeping peacefully on his lap. He didn't remember putting the blankets on himself...or falling asleep for that matter. But he was still too groggy from being awoken so quickly, and as he left the mattress, his blood pressure dropped and he had to sit down again.

Once he had recovered he picked up his robes and parka, and lazily put them one, missing his sleeve several times in the process.

He grabbed his staff and walked out into the corridor. It was quiet. So he took advantage of it and tip-toed out of the palace, avoiding any social confrontations during his mentally slowest part of the day.

He stepped outside the door and sunk into the snow that had fallen during the night. The sun was just beginning to rise, so his vision had to adjust to the still dark village. He walked a few paces before spotting something in the distance, covered by a low built house. He jogged a few more paces and turned a corner. A figure, no more than several metres ahead of him, had a large rope of water curved around their body.

Aang sighed, even through the darkness, the graceful twists and turns were obvious to him.

"Katara." he said just loud enough for the person to hear. The figure turned at the voice and almost immediately directed the water rope right at him, making Aang having to deflect it. When he looked up again, however, the figure was gone. He could only frown to himself as he had to re think whether or not the previous night's events had actually happened.

* * *

Aang had returned to the palace only to find that everyone else was stirring. There was no sign of Katara or Tiao, but he had found it best not to think about it.

Pretty soon though a cheerful white haired girl in a blue parka came bounding up the slopes.

"Good morning everyone." she said a little too happily, and everyone glance sideways at each other.

"I don't suppose any of you have seen my knapsack? I need to put this back in there but I can't find it anywhere."

She held up a similar vile to the one that had contained cactus juice. The only difference was that this one was almost empty with only a slight ring of something dark red lingering in the bottom.

Suki walked forward and uncorked it. She didn't even need to put her nose to the mouth to know what it was. The rest of the Gaang could tell this by the way she was laughing.

"Tiao where did you get this?"

But the girl didn't even answer before falling backwards into the snow. As Suki helped her up with an arm hung over her shoulder, the others took the liberty of inspecting the vile. It was Aang who recognised it first, but his reaction was the opposite of what the Kyoshi warrior's was.

"Its Dragon Whisky! Why do you have Dragon Whisky?"

His voice had risen and Sokka and Suki looked at him in amazement. Not only because he knew what it was, but because he had reacted so harshly to it. But Aang quickly realised and shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, I didn't sleep much last night."

But Tiao wasn't listening. She was holding her head up with one had as she was supported by Suki with the other. She seemed almost asleep and completely oblivious to what was happening.

"Aang why don't you go get Appa. I'll get Katara and then we can head off."

Aang nodded to Sokka's suggestion and walked off towards the stables. Sokka walked back into the palace and straight to Katara's room. But his sister was already up and closing her door when he got there. She looked well rested, and a small bag that sat at her feet told him she was already packed and ready.

"Wow Katara, you're organised huh?"

"We said we'd go in the morning." she said holding the doorknob until she heard a reassuring click. "Its morning...so lets go."

Sokka knew by her tone that she wasn't in the mood, and he was smart enough to know not to test his theory's about her. So he only shrugged and walked back outside. Katara followed and threw a small leather bag at Tiao, who in her incapacitated state, let it hit her and fall to the ground."

"There it is!" she exclaimed, trying to bend down to pick it up and almost falling on her face in the process.

* * *

Once Aang had returned with Appa, they had all lapsed into silence, and that was how they remained during the beginning of their trip. No one dare speak even though Katara seemed to have forgotten the previous night...they knew she hadn't. Even Tiao, as the cold wind whipping against her sobered her up, could sense the intensity between them.

It wasn't until the ghostly shapes of the icebergs on the ocean stopped and the sun was high enough for them to see where they were, did the mood lighten up a bit.

Finally Aang turned from his position on Appa's head and looked at Tiao. "So...you like Dragon Whisky."

Tiao looked up and forced a small smile. "Yea. Its...umm...spicy."

Aang nodded and turned back around. They fell into silence again. This time, Katara broke it.

"So what are you going to do once you get to the Earth Kingdom?" Tiao seemed to really think about how to answer before she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure. I haven't been there since I was a child. Who knows how much it has changed. I mean, there could have been a war there and I wouldn't of known about it." Sokka had to hold in a sudden outburst as she continued.

"After my father died, I felt so cut of from the rest of the world."

Aang and Sokka, who hadn't known about this previously, looked at her in surprise. But Suki and Katara just nodded in an understanding way. Sokka looked at Suki accusingly but she only smiled and replied 'girl talk'.

Tiao then removed her parka and folded it next to her. The fur trimming ruffled in the wind, but its weight prevented it from going anywhere.

"Anyway," she started bring back everyone's attention. "that's why I joined the fire nation army."

There was almost certainly a faint thud as everyone's bottom jaw hit the saddle. They all stared at her momentarily before regaining themselves, which was when they realised that they were now ascending. In Aang's surprise, he had yanked at the reigns which Appa had thought as an instruction to rise.

Sokka pulled out his boomerang and nudged Aang in the arm, which incidentally brought him back to reality. He evened out the reigns and went back to paying attention to the sky in front of him. At least now he had thought of more questions to ask here once they had met up with Toph.

* * *

**Again, thanks to EmiieRoxs for another helpful review. :D**

**And also to Anti Sora. Keep the love coming guys ^_^**


	9. IX Forgotten Temple

**IX Forgotten Temple **

She knew as soon as those words had left her lips Tiao had dropped a bombshell. At first, their reaction made her smile. Only because, being a female in the fire nation army usually brought that reaction from people. However, by the way they avoided her gaze afterwards, Tiao realised that she had just distanced herself from them, and that made her somewhat scared.

The group silently agreed to take a break from flying and they landed on a small island. From the air they could see only a few houses, while most of the land was covered in flora, so it was decided that it would be a good place to get some peace.

Once Appa's toes touched the earth in a large clearing, they all disembarked, Katara being the first. The waterbender stormed off and disappeared amongst the trees, and Aang was quick to follow her. Sokka jumped off onto the grass and stretched his arms above his head.

"I think its time for a toilet break." he announced before wandering off in the opposite direction his sister took.

That only left Suki and Tiao on the saddle. Tiao had closed herself off by hugging her knees close to her body. Suki, having taken in one of Azula's friends as a Kyoshi warrior, wasn't quick to judge. She decided to keep her company, even if it was silent until the others came back. However, it wasn't.

"What do they have against the fire nation army?' Tiao asked as she played innocently with her fingers in front of her.

Suki sighed and rubbed the back of her head. "We've run into some problems with fire nation soldiers in the past. Specifically Sokka, Katara and Aang. They don't like to talk about it."

Tiao took in the answer and was quick to defend herself, jumping up from her huddled position and almost falling over in her haste. "I wasn't a soldier! They wouldn't let me be one because of my hair!" she exclaimed, pulling at one of her locks and pointing to it angrily.

Suki cocked her head in puzzlement. Tiao took a deep breath and sat down again. Keeping her voice calm, she explained. "The army agreed that due to my hair colour, it was too easy to pick me out of a crowd. So instead, they trained me to work with potions. I was in charge of sedating prisoners and setting up weapons for....ahem...special uses."

"You mean, to kill?"

Tiao nodded. "But I wasn't the one that used them. Of course I did carry some when they put me on patrol in the village, but they were only for emergencies."

She spoke the last part of confession very fast and Suki had to listen keenly to catch all of it. But once she was done, and playing with her long hair shamefully, Suki crawled forward and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"You have to tell everyone. To them, the fire nation army are just a group of thugs...or at least, they were."

It was Tiao's turn to look puzzled, but Suki quickly corrected herself. "Listen, if you don't tell them, they might not talk to you again."

The blonde haired girl let out a breath of air she had been holding in and nodded. Suki slapped her on the back and stood up, stretching her legs.

"Come one, lets go get a drink before we have to take off again."

- - - -

- - - -

Katara stomped through the undergrowth, not looking back. Aang quickly caught up to her and put a hand on each of her shoulders to stop her. He was almost expecting her to be crying from memories brought on by the bombshell that was just dropped on them.

In fact, the expression plastered on her face scared him a little and he felt the need to let go of her.

"Katara, calm down. Its not like she hurt anyone we know. Heck ,we don't know if she's hurt anyone."

"Aang, you know as well as I do that the fire nation army only recruit people who have the will to fight. Who's to say that Tiao won't turn on us while we're sleeping? Or worse, she could be a spy."

Aang put both hands behind his head and bit his lower lip. He knew that Katara now seeing Tiao as one of the southern raiders who took her mother. He knew that she was probably going to take her frustration out on Tiao just like she had with Zuko. Aang had to think fairly quickly before Katara stormed back to Appa and punched the girl in the face.

"Katara, she wasn't around when the fire nation raided your village. She wasn't even around when the airbenders...." he stopped and waited for her understanding of where he was going. "The point I'm trying to make is that you can't profile someone just based on what they do, or did, for a living. Tiao could of just been trying to make ends meet."

Katara recalled the conversation she had had with the firebender about her father and nodded silently. Her face softened slightly and Aang relaxed, dropping his arms by his side.

"But how do you know this? Do you remember her from a hundred years ago or something?"

"Close. Avatar Roku remembers seeing a baby with blue eyes and white hair when he was training with his waterbending master up at the north pole."

Katara looked somewhat shocked at this. "So...she was born in the northern water tribe? But she's a firebender!"

"I know. I'm not even sure if the baby Roku saw _was _Tiao, but how many baby's do you see that are born with white hair?" Aang watched her expression change as she went through the possibilities. When she opened her mouth to talk Aang quickly cut her off. "No, I asked Roku. He thinks that because Tiao doesn't have pure white hair, she hasn't been touched by Tui."

Katara shut her mouth and screwed it up in thought. "So...this is why you want to take her to Toph? To double check your information?" Aang didn't get the chance to answer before Katara nodded understandingly, so he just smiled.

"Right, that's settled. Now I have to ask, why did you whip me this morning?" Aang said as they started back towards Appa.

"Aang that's a horrible thing to say, I would never whip you!" Aang shot an accusing (but amused) look at her and she smiled "Not on purpose anyway."

The airbender looked forward again and smiled "Then your waterbending pupils are getting really good."

Katara laughed out loud and Aang had to stop and look at her before she even thought about controlling herself.

"They _can_ do a water whip right?"

"Aang, my pupils can't make a water whip to save their life. Mind you, they are still reasonably knew at it, so its reasonable. Why do you ask?"

Aang was positive that the one who whipped him was Katara, after all, she did turn at the calling of her name. But the person was hooded, so it could have been any one of the waterbenders in the village. "No reason." he said smiling, a lot more relaxed that Katara hadn't hurt him out of spite.

- - - -

They got back to Appa to find only Sokka, leaning up against Appa's fur and eating a piece of fruit he had obviously found on his trip into the woods.

"Hey Sokka...where's Suki?" Katara asked, looking up at the saddle and the pair of fans sitting on it.

"Not sure, came back and she and Tiao were gone."

Aang grabbed his staff and waved himself onto Appa's head. "Aren't you worried?"

But the water tribe shook his head calmly and took another bite of his fruit." Of course I am. But if Suki can fight Azula and live, than she can handle anyone."

Aang was just about to glide off when two voices came from the trees. Pretty soon, out of the darkness caused by the thick foliage of the trees, came Suki and Tiao. They were talking and each girl held an armful of fruit like the one that Sokka was eating.

Katara tapped her foot impatiently as Sokka clambered back onto Appa.

"Oh hey sorry Katara, we found a fruit tree and thought it would be good to get everyone a snack." Suki's eyes wandered to where Sokka was sitting on the saddle and she sighed. "But it looks like Sokka has already helped himself."

Tiao let out a small giggle before looking down at the stern waterbender. "Listen, Katara, I'm sorry about how you see fire nation soldiers, but you have to understand that we're not all evil."

Suki bit her lip as Katara just turned around and climbed onto Appa. "Maybe you should explain the way you did to me once we get going."

Tiao nodded, still watching the waterbender with a worried look.

- - - -

- - - -

Once the small island was out of sight, the friends turned their attention to the small pile of fruit waiting for them. Despite having eaten already, Sokka was one of the first to grab a piece.

Tiao thought that it would've been hard to bring up the topic of the army again, but it wasn't. The air around the group had lightened up since their break, and it was Katara who let curiosity get the better of her.

"So Tiao, what _did_ you do in the army?"

After that question was out in the air, her muscles relaxed and she felt like she could breath again. There was something about the waterbender that was almost...parent-like in her judgement. So once everyone was attentive to Tiao, she explained to them her duties, just like she had with Suki. When she had finished, they all seemed a little more keen on sharing Appa's saddle with her. Though Katara still seemed a little sceptical, Tiao just dismissed it as her nature.

It wasn't long after her story was finished that they started flying past familiar buildings atop the mountains. Tiao pretty much flung herself overboard as she watched them sail by.

"Hey Aang, the southern air temple! Why didn't we stop here for a break?"

But the group fell silent, especially Aang. He just snapped Appa's reigns and they continued to fly past the blue roofed buildings. Tiao sunk back to a sitting position as the clouds slowly covered the forgotten temple.

"Hey, is this one of those things that you don't talk about?" she asked out of curiosity. They all slowly nodded, but Tiao couldn't seem to let it go.

"Come on, you can tell me. Its not like I'm a spy or anything." she said feigning a fake smile as Katara shot Aang a glance.

Aang pat the sky bison on the head and practically floated over to Tiao on a gust of wind. They now sat face to face, their legs crossed and expressions blank. She knew when something was serious, and the way that the others were excluding themselves from the conversation told her enough.

'Tiao, I don't know how to say this but...you're not from around here."

The blonde haired girl smiled and looked back at the direction of the southern air temple. "Yea I know, I'm a from the fire nation capital."

Aang sighed as Sokka and Suki leaned closer to hear. "No, I mean, you're not from this time."

Tiao didn't seem to understand and her smile quickly disappeared as the tone of the conversation got sharper. "You know we found you frozen in ice right?" Tiao nodded at this. "Well, we're just not sure how long you've been in there. You know who I am right?"

"Sure, you're Aang of the southern air temple who doesn't visit his friends." she replied, trying to lighten up the mood with little success.

"No Tiao. I'm the...I'm the Avatar."

She seemed to hold in a laugh as her hand shot right over her mouth. "Silly Aang." she said, her words muffled by her hand. "Roku is the Avatar, he is from the fire nation."

However, her laughs died down but her hand remained as she saw no reaction from the others.

"How long have I been in the ice?" she said, a scared tone replacing her ridiculing one.

Aang slowly explained how Roku was long passed and he had been frozen for one hundred years. He talked of the war and Sozin's comet, and managed to explain the fall of the airbenders. Katara soon cut in and explained of their adventures to the north pole and how the fire nation almost destroyed the village and the moon.

Sokka then exaggerated the fall of Omashu and the siege on Ba Sing Se and how they thought they had stopped the fire nation. Then he got to the part about Aang almost being killed by Azula and the airbender confirmed it by showing the large scar on his back.

Finally, Suki talked about Toph and Zuko and how they all worked together to stop Fire Lord Ozai from taking over the entire earth kingdom.

Tiao just sat silently through it all. It was a good few hours before the Gaang finished and waited for her to take it all in. At first it seemed like she had just ignored them all, refusing to accept where she was. But she finally looked up from the depressed slump she had fallen into, and looked over the side of the saddle.

"One hundred year war..." she started, crossing her arms underneath her chin.

For the duration of the rest of the day, she didn't speak or even turn around until they finally landed on the mainland of the earth kingdom. Even then, she silently wandered over to a patch of grass, folded her parka and slept. The others stayed close to one another and watched her sadly.

"You know, when I you think about it, she kind of has it rougher than I did."

Everyone looked at Aang waiting for an explanation to his theory. "I mean, I only lived for 12 years when I got frozen. Technically, she left 19 years behind. I've known people that were 19 that were already starting a family. Who knows what she had."

The others pondered this before laying their heads down to rest.

* * *

**Phew...**

**Tried to go for a longer chapter, try and shake things up a bit lol**

**I wanna know, would you rather longer chapters that cover more or shorter chapters that get to one thing at a time? Coz if you like longer, I'll strive for longer :D  
**

**Please Review ^_^**


	10. X Conformity

**X Conformity**

As soon as she heard the name she couldn't control herself.

Quickly she grabbed the parchment from the advisors hands and run maniacally down the marble hallway. Her bare feet slapped happily against the cold surface that was sending vibrations up and down her body until she stopped at a small door that was slightly ajar.

The sound of metal against metal came from inside and she smiled widely before barging in.

"They're coming!" she shouted as the door swung open and hit the wall. Her loud shrill voice literally knocked the young man off his chair, stopping him from sharpening his butterfly knife. But after the initial shock, and pain, from the girls intrusion wore off, he smiled up at the figure looming over him.

"Who's coming?"

"Katara, Sokka, Suki and Aang!"

The green eyed soldier picked himself off the ground, and in time, his chair. His expression of shock now exaggerated. "Aang? Aang the Avatar?!"

Toph was smiling from ear to ear as the young man regained himself and sat back down, forgetting all about his blade sharpening. The blind earth bender waved a piece of paper in his face before he took it off her.

"He says they'll be here in a few days, and this was most likely written before they left."

Huso read the letter through carefully, ignoring the large messenger hawk that had followed Toph and was now perched on his shoulder. Once he had finished, his bottom lip protruded impressively. "So you read this all by yourself huh?"

Toph yanked the letter from his hand as he smiled teasingly. "No smart arse, I got one of Kuei's advisors to read it for me." she said from across the room, where she had settled on a pile of cushions. She rolled the letter back into its original original glory before throwing it over her shoulder.

Huso walked over and sat next to her, picking the letter up as he did. Next to him, Toph proceeded to pick her toes.

"Well, this is dated a few days ago. You think they'll be here soon?"

"Please. If I know Aang, he's probably already here. Not to mention miss fussy britches will want to hug me as soon as possible."

Although she couldn't see it, she knew that Huso was biting his lip. "But you hate hugs."

"Tell me about it." she said sticking a finger in her ear before pulling it out and flicking it profusely.

- - - -

- - - -

Toph was right. It wasn't long before news arrived that a large furry creature had just landed in the palace compound.

Huso now followed the girl through the overly tall corridors, staying a respectable distance behind his captain. Behind him was about 20 others, both male and female earth-benders. Their uniforms somewhat resembled the Dai Li's, only the long robe and sleeves were significantly shorter. They were Toph's design, and she had done reasonable well considering she lacked a vital mandatory element of a designer. Huso was one of the first members of the vigilante group when Toph had first started it less than a year ago. Since then they have grown in size and were now working for the 52nd earth king as the 'new' Dai Li, seeing as Kuei didn't want to break the tradition started by Kyoshi to protect the cultural heritage of Ba Sing Se.

Unfortunately, Toph was right again.

As soon as she passed the large columns holding up the palace roof, she was bombarded by two girls. They would have knocked her to her feet if it wasn't for the earthbender's stance she had taken in anticipation.

- - - -

- - - -

Katara and Suki both had their eyes on the door when it opened and wasted no time in hugging their dearly missed friend.

Toph just hung her arms limply by her side, waiting for it to be over. When they finally released her, she gave back a pieced of affection in the form of a sharp punch in the arm.

"How are you doin' sugar queen?" she said smiling as Katara let out a painful groan. Suki just laughed and hugged the girl, who was know as tall as her, around the shoulders.

"We missed you Toph."

"Yea I can tell." she replied as Sokka inched his way over to her. She didn't hesitate in sharing more 'affection' to the water tribe warrior before she grabbed his hand firmly and shook it.

Then Aang came over and scrunched up his eyes, waiting for the familiar pain in his triceps. But it didn't come. Instead he opened his eyes to her body pressed against his in a tight embrace.

The friends exchanged looks as Aang returned it.

"How are ya' twinkle toes?"

Aang pat her on the back before she let go. He thought he was in the clear until he was made to clutch his shoulder in agony.

Toph smiled and shrugged. "It's no fun when you're expecting it."

They all laughed in unison as the earthbender resumed her position in front of her group, right in front of Huso.

They all couldn't help but stare at the young man. He was lightly taller than all of them and his skin was as dark as night. Sokka and Katara had thought that their family had dark skin, but compared to this guy, they desperately needed a tan.

He walked up to each of them with an outstretched hand and greeted them all in turn.

"This is Huso. He's my right hand man basically. You know, in charge of all the technical stuff."

The dark skinned fellow bowed his head and walked back to his position behind Toph. The earth bender smiled and started to mouth something to herself. It seemed as though she was counting something, tapping her foot in rhythm to her miming. Once she had finished she stepped forward "Hey Aang...I thought you said your were bringing an extra?"

"Yea," he said rubbing the back of his head "she's had a rough couple of days so we left her with Iroh."

Toph nodded eagerly and motioned for them to come. "You have to tell me all about it over lunch. If I'm not mistaken, Kuei was told about you coming and has all this food ready."

Aang's stomach grumbled and he clutched it hungrily.

"Does he have vegetarian?"

- - - -

- - - -

Tiao walked in the door of the tea shop and sat down at a corner table, with her back to the wall. The place was quiet, with only a few paying residents scattered here and there. Aang had told her to go to the jasmine dragon and seek out someone named Iroh. She had silently agreed and asked no more questions, though now she wished she had. There were several male customers and a few waiters walking around, and she had no idea what this Iroh looked like.

After some time of sitting in her own pool of self pity, a thin figured waitress came over to her table and took out a quill and a small pad of parchment.

"Welcome to the Jasmine dragon. The special of the day is fire lily tea with a honey rice bun on the side."

Tiao sat in silence for a moment before nodding. The waitress stood there, waiting for a response,. When none came she wrote down the special and walked away, not sure if the girl even talked or not.

Tiao was following Aang's orders right down to his very last word.

"_Don't talk to anyone other than Iroh. Tell him that we sent you to wait for us there. Also, make sure your hair is covered. Most people aren't accustomed to seeing young white haired girls. And whatever you do, don't firebend."_

So Tiao had put on her Parka, even though it was incredibly hot, and put the hood up and over her head. Now all that could be seen of her was her face, and a blue eyed girl wearing an ocean blue parka didn't look out of place with all the visiting waterbenders around.

Pretty soon, the waitress came back with a tray of tea and a steaming honey rice bun She placed it down on the table and stood up straight. Tiao handed her some coins out of her small knapsack and the young girl hastily walked away.

Tiao just sat there, staring at the tray. She had no intention of consuming it, she had only bought it to look non conspicuous. So far, it was working. No one in the shop seemed to be paying any attention to her. In fact, she wasn't even the saddest looking customer there. After taking a quick glance around at her surroundings, she noticed a small party of people dressed in black, and a young couple, one of which had their face buried in folded arms on the table in front of them while the other consoled them.

So, instead of looking out of place, she decided to play the part. She placed both of her elbows on the table and put her forehead in her hands. It was only then, when none of her new acquaintances were around, that everything that had happened in the past week hit her like flying hippo-cow. Her eyes began to sting horribly and and uncomfortable wet feeling fell down her cheek and into her untouched tea.

- - - -

- - - -

The young waitress bounded happily to the kitchen, counting her newly acquired money as she went. By her calculation, she had just received a very generous tip on her first day.

"Iroh, sir, look what someone just gave me."

The aged man turned and took the currency into his hands. He turned a coin around in his fingers and held it up to the light.

"Lien, who did you get this from?"

The young girl stopped her excitable bounce and pointed over to the corner table. Iroh peered around the kitchen wall and looked at the figure sobbing quietly in the corner.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No Lien, don't worry." he said softly before taking the money over to the table. Without announcing, he sat on the cushion across from the girl and let the money roll softly onto the polished surface.

Tiao quickly looked up. Her eyes were red and her face was streaked from the trails of tears. She quickly wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her coat and sniffed quietly.

"Sorry." she said, her voice croaky.

Iroh held up a hand and smiled kindly. "I think of it as my duty to help any of my patrons, should they need it."

Tiao looked down at the smile pile of coins on the table. She inwardly cursed for not paying attention to what she was doing.

Iroh inspected her before picking up one of the small gold pieces. "By your eyes I would say you are from the water tribe?" Tiao nodded, wiping her face once more. Iroh moved his hand in front of his face and looked at the piece of metal carefully.

"I must know, how did you come across such relics? And why are you giving them to my waitresses?"

His tone was light and cheerful, so Tiao knew that he was just curious. But remembering what Aang had told her she quickly made up something.

"They were my fathers. I carry them around with me as good luck charms. I have real money." Quickly she put her hand into her knapsack and pulled out a small pile of water tribe coins, but Iroh pushed her hand back. She could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't buying it, literally.

"These look fairly knew. You must be taking good care of them."

Knowing now that talking was just getting her into more trouble, she decided not to speak. She simply nodded and place the blue coins back in her bag. The old man seemed to be interested in what was inside it, so she quickly shut it and attempted clearing her throat.

"I'm sorry about the money. You can keep it. But I really need to get going, I'm supposed to be looking for someone."

Tiao adjusted the hood on her head, pulling it further over her face.

Iroh made no attempt to stop her.

"Young lady, if you like, I know nearly every person in the upper ring. Perhaps I could help you."

Tiao turned and seriously considered his offer. She was usually a good judge of character, and this guy seemed to have 'good' written all over him. After remembering how big the city seemed from the air, and how bigger it got once she touched the ground, Tiao decided it was best to let him help her.

He smiled triumphantly and walked into the kitchen. She reluctantly followed, slipping her waitress some water tribe money as she passed her.

They got into the kitchen and the man poured two cups of tea. It smelled a lot nicer than what she had been given earlier, and out of courtesy, decided that it was best to drink it.

She sipped at her cup and took a seat and a wooden bench that was lined up against the wall. The flavoured hot water slid down her throat and started to warm up her body. Of course, being a firebender her body was naturally warm, but combined with the heat brought on by the tea, she could feel herself starting to sweat under the thick leather of her blue fur trimmed coat.

The grey haired man, who had started brewing some more tea for his customers, could see the beads of sweat falling down her face even under the darkness of the hood.

"Tea is good for warming the body. I'm sure its getting very hot under there." he joked while Tiao was suffering.

She didn't even get to finish her tea before she put it down and pulled off the coat. It piled on the floor and she leaned her head against the wall behind her, taking a deep breath of the cooler air and letting it regulate her body temperature.

It took her a while to realise what she had done, and that the man had stopped brewing tea to stare at her ivory locks that were draped over her shoulders.

She looked down and covered her face with one hand.

"Shit."

* * *

**There, I have now included two things that the original Avatar did not.**

**An Aryan and a Black man :D GO DIFFERENCE!!!**

**lol**

**So what do you think? Is good? Reuniting is hard...why did I pick to reunite XD**

**Please Review**


	11. XI Ambidextrous

**XI Ambidextrous**

The Gaang couldn't stop noticing how much Toph had grown since she had they had separated. She was now taller and leaner, and was glowing with her own curvaceous glory. But her hair hadn't really changed. She still had the long ebony bangs in front of her jade coloured eyes. But now she had traded in her tiara for a green head sock that kept all but two long tufts of hair behind her head. She still sported her little white puffs near her ears as well.

"I can't tell you how good it is to see you again Toph." said Katara as they walked up the stone steps that led into the palace. "I mean, look how much you've grown!"

"Comment on how much I've grown and I'll feed you to Bosco." she joked, and they all broke into a happy laugh.

Huso, who was obediently walking behind them couldn't help but join in their infectious chuckle, and no one seemed to mind that he did, if anything, they welcomed it.

Sokka, being the curious man he was, dropped back and hung an arm over the young man's shoulders. Huso looked a bit uncomfortable at first, but relaxed when everyone else seemed to take it as normal welcoming behaviour.

"So, Huso, did you stay in the sun too long or something?"

Suki quickly dropped back and laced her arm around Sokka's elbow, effectively yanking him away.

"Sorry Huso." she said, but Huso was busy watching the curious warrior poke his arm, almost like he was inspecting for a layer of mud.

"Its okay. Actually, I was born like this, and so were my parents." he said subconsciously pulling away from them.

Sokka rubbed a hand through his small beard thoughtfully. "Really?" he said, wishing he still had his investigator props. "Well, I like it. It's very different." A very large smiled plastered on his face and he held onto Suki's arm tightly as they walked through the large doors.

Before going any further Huso ran up to Toph. "I'm going to take some of the newbies out for patrol while you catch up." Toph seemed happy with his suggestion as he marched off down an opposite hallway. Everyone watched him until he was out of sight, before once again following the smell of food through the palace.

Aang held onto his staff tightly as they walked through the large stone corridors. His eyes had been glued to Toph the whole way, he thought no one had noticed until she stopped in front of the dining room entrance.

"Stop staring Twinkle Toes. You don't think I can feel your eyes groping me?" she laughed pointing an accusing finger right at his nose. Aang wondered how she always seemed to point at the right mark but never look at it. It must have been the fact that she didn't need to, her finger was scary enough.

"Sorry Toph but you said we couldn't comment." he smiled.

She accepted his answer and pushed open the large oak doors, revealing a long dining table lined with worldly foods. Sokka and Katara seemed to sit at their own corner with all the sea prunes. Aang completely avoided that area, and so did Toph.

Aang found the custard tarts and sat down on one of the cushions that surrounded the table. Momo ran in after him and planted himself in front of a large plate of fruit, and started to dig in without remorse.

Toph continued down the length of the polished piece of furniture and stopped right at the end. She didn't sit until Kuei came in with Bosco and took the royal set up of pillows at the end of the table.

Suki followed Her boyfriend and sat down next to him, having no interest in the plate of steamed cumquats in front of her

"Aang, Katara, Sokka, its good to see you again." Kuei announced as Bosco planted a big wet kiss on the avatar's cheek.

"Its good to see you too Kuei." said Katara, performing her own little version of a bow. "I hope all your travelling went well?"

"It was great master Katara." Sokka stifled a laugh as the king continued "Bosco and I went everywhere, even to the north pole! We would of gone to the south pole to see you but I had to return here."

"We understand your majesty." said Sokka through a mouthful of meat.

Suki elbowed him casually and Sokka managed to swallow all that he had stuffed in his cheeks. "Did you go to the fire nation?" she asked, satisfied that Sokka had refrained from talking while eating.

"Sadly, I was advised not to." Kuei answered with a glum look. "It seems the crime rate in the fire nation has risen since the fall of Ozai, though I'm sure fire lord Zuko can find a way to bring it down again." he smiled encouragingly, though everyone could see the worried look in his eyes.

Sokka wiped his mouth along his sleeve before impaling another cumquat with a chopstick. He rested his forearm on the table in front of him and leaned forward towards the Avatar.

"So Aang...how did you know what was in the vile back at the south pole. You know, the one with the....dragon whiskey was it?" he asked turning towards Suki and waiting for a conformation nod.

But before Aang could answer a series of loud splutters came from the far end of the table. Everyone stared as Toph desperately tried to bring up the liquid she had just inhaled by accident. "Uuhhh...I'm going to take Toph to get a drink of water." said Aang and he quickly took her arm and led her out of the dining room.

He moved so quickly that Katara didn't have the chance to tell him that there was water on the table.

"So Kuei," said Katara, replacing the water jug back onto the table. "how long has Toph been working for you?"

"Oh master Katara please. She is more working with me than for me." he smiled, placing a dumpling delicately in his mouth.

There was a moments pause as everyone took a chance to digest some food. By the time everyone was done chewing, the conversation was ready to fire back up again.

"Toph tells me that you found yet another person in an iceberg? I hope its not another avatar." he chuckled and everyone felt obliged to join in.

"Actually, this time its just a normal person." said Suki from behind a napkin as she dabbed at her mouth. "Well, as regular as frozen fire benders come anyway."

"I see." the king looked genuinely interested now, and slowly put the bowl he was eating from down again before folding his hands on his lap. "And what is this icy-fire bender's name?"

"Tiao." the three of them spoke in near unison and the king looked up at them all.

"Tiao you say? Are you sure?" he adjusted his small glasses, his face now more serious than curious. He clicked his fingers and a servant waiting in standby near the door came over to him. Kuei whispered something to the boy and he took off through the door both he and Bosco had entered.

When he continued eating, everyone just assumed that it was nothing and ate through their lunch once more.

- - - -

- - - -

Aang held tight to Toph's forearm as they walked through the corridors. She had long sinced coughing now and was just going along with it. Though she had grown, so had Aang, and she found it a lot harder to push him around now that he had gone through his growth spurt.

They reached a door and Aang opened it up. He had been trying to lead them to a bathroom, but by the looks of all the clothes strewn across the floor, he had stumbled upon Toph's room.

Without hesitating, Toph walked through the mess, breaking free of the avatars hold, and walked over to a freshly laid basin. She took a drink and splashed her face before pretending to look at herself in the mirror in front of her. Aang wondered why the servants even bothered.

"What was that?" he asked sternly as she stopped trying to fix her hair. She walked over to her bed and sat on the edge, crossing her arms in an 'I-don't-care' manner.

He walked across the room towards a chair, picking up some of the clothes as he went.

"Don't do that twinkle-toes, my feet won't be able to find anything."

Aang dropped what he was carrying and sat in the chair , dragging it across to her. She didn't have to have eyes to know that he was staring right at her.

"Well, what are you doing tasting dragon whiskey anyway?!" she said after a passing silence between them, wildly throwing her arms up in the air and narrowly missing Aang's forehead. "I thought we took an oath never to touch that stuff ever again."

Toph let herself fall backwards so that she was now sprawled across her bed spread.

"I wasn't tasting it, I sniffed it. No body knew what it was and Tiao was giggling and falling down in the snow. I had to fill them in."

Toph knew he was taking about the girl he had found, so she needn't ask. Instead, she continued to stare blankly at the ceiling, her arms folded across her chest.

"I didn't know what it was until I took a whiff. If I did, I wouldn't of gone near it."

He waited for a response, but when none came he got out of the chair and headed for the door.

"Wait Aang."

The avatar stopped. Toph only used his real name when she was being serious. He turned and face to see her sitting on the edge of the bed again, staring at the floor. But as he waited, there was still no response.

"I'd get back soon, it would look odd if I came back and you didn't." With that he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, trying to ignore the silence still emitting form behind the door.

- - - -

- - - -

There was a loud clink as something metallic hit the ground. A figure bent down to pick it up, but through the blindfold she could for the life of her see who it was. She tried to curse them but her mouth wouldn't move. Only a angry mumble made it through her clenched teeth.

There was a strange pain going up and down the right side of her body, like it was being burnt continuously. She could see the blocked out figures against the flickering candlelight that was illuminating the room. One of them came close to her and grabbed her arm, undoing a strap which was the cause of her immobility.

She seized this opportunity and pushed the person away effectively gaining back the control of her left arm. She seized the piece of silk covering her eyes and yanked it off, ripping out strands of her hair as she did.

The room was small and dark, with a lone candle in the corner. There were people all around her, though they had retreated now that she had unbound one of her limbs. They were dressed in long red robs with large pointed hats. They were all men except for one woman who was dressed in brown and carried some metal tools.

She quickly yanked at the gag in her mouth but couldn't pull it free. The leather straps holding it in place were pulled tight and almost impossible to get a finger behind it.

Enraged, she shot a small blue fireball at her head, catching the strap alight along with a large tuft of ebony hair. She could smell burning flesh before one of the men threw a bucket of water over her, extinguishing the flame. Two more men rushed forward and held down her free arm as the woman in brown came over and stuck a small porcupine-boar quill under her skin.

Suddenly, the room was swaying and the candle fell dimmer as her eyelids closed. She fought to keep them open but her body was forcing her to shut down. She felt the pain in her side fade and the feeling in her limbs perish as she closed her eyes.

"Now do you understand how dangerous she is?" was all Azula heard before she blacked out.

- - - -

- - - -

Tiao parted two of her fingers to allow her to see what the man was doing now that he had seen her. But he had simply gone back to making tea, and she pulled her hand away, blushing for her profanity.

The old man took her cup and filled it up with some more of the jasmine-smelling tea. He held it out to her, smiling. "I'm sure you will enjoy it more now that you've rid yourself of that parka."

Tiao nodded and tried to take the cup. But she had feared the mans reaction and her hands were shaking. She fumbled with the small porcelain handle and the cup fell and smashed on the ground.

She looked up with wide eyes.

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to break it." her words seemed to fall out of her mouth as she tried to construct a coherent sentence. But the man smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. She felt a strange comfort from his contact and her shaking hands fell to the bench she was sitting on.

"No need to cry over spilt tea. Though, my back isn't what it used to be. Would you mind helping me clean up?"

Tiao thought she owed the guy. He had taken her in because of her dilemma and given her tea. What she had done in return was give him outdated money and break his tea cup. So she had no second thoughts about helping him clean up the mess, though he looked more agile than he let on.

She lifted a hand and took a deep breath. The old man took a seat near his brewing tea pots and watched with interest as her fingers splayed. The tea rose in a mound but fell to the ground again. Tiao took another deep breath and moved her hand in a figure-8 motion. The tea lifted off the ground and moved itself to an empty cup across the room.

Her fingers relaxed and and the man clapped enthusiastically. "I was certain that you were a bender. Your eyes have that certain glow about them. Though they are much brighter than a normal waterbender." he smiled and dug into the pocket of his robe and pulled out the small golden coins she had handed him earlier. "For the show." he winked

"My name is Iroh."

Tiao's hands went limp and the coins clattered on the ground. She hurriedly picked them up and stuffed them back into her bag before picking up her coat and folding it on her lap.

"Why didn't I listen to Aang." she said under her breath as Iroh waited for her to introduce herself.

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**This is officially the longest story I've ever written :D**

**And for those who don't know, being ambidextrous means you can use your left and right hand as effectively as each other. I thought it was appropriate ^_^**

**What do you think?**

**Leave me Love 3**


	12. XII Updates not a real chapter, sorry

Hey guys. Here's just an update as to why the story has had no new chapters.

You see, I just finished my second year at college and it was very hectic. But in order to finish it properly I had to sell an arm and a leg to get myself a new computer (two actually, I got a desktop and laptop).

Now, my old computer has been crapping out on me for some time so I was absolutely ecstatic to get a new one. However, during the transferring of files process, my old computer decided it hated my and scattered my files everywhere.

So I cleared the computer completely, got rid of it (gave to my mum lol) and put all of the jigsaw files on my new computer. Ever since I have been slowly organising the clutter that that stupid machine created unnecessarily for me (I had to wait until I finished my year before I started too, i didn't have time in between all my assignments).

But the good news is I recovered more than half of the chapters and even what I had done of the next chapter. So rum all around and keep watching the skies :)


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